Mike Nahan won't lead Liberals to 2021 election: Liberal insiders

Former WA Treasurer Mike Nahan might be less than 24-hours away from becoming Liberal leader, but already a number of senior party insiders have said he won't lead the party to the next election.

Mr Nahan is expected to nominate for the top job at a Liberal party room meeting on Tuesday and has boldly declared he will lead the embattled opposition to the 2021 state election despite being just shy of his 71st birthday when WA is due to return to the polls.

Could Matt Birney return from the political wilderness to lead the Liberal party? Photo: Bohdan Warchomij

"We needed Colin to make the decision to leave by his own volition, and that did not happen."

But two Liberals sources claim Dr Nahan, who is two weeks older than Mr Barnett, won't be at the helm come the 2021 election.

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"He will almost be 71 by the time the next election comes around, so while he may have a short honeymoon period and do well in some early polls - basically because he's not Barnett - he won't lead the party," the insider said.

Another high-ranking Liberal source said the party desperately needed to rebuild and look towards the future.

"The party has been gutted – decimated more than any of us ever predicted – but I would be very surprised if Nahan was there in 2021," the source said.

"But unless something extraordinary happens he will be leader for at least the next two years."

WAtoday understands the party may woo former Liberal leader Matt Birney from the political wilderness with the view of him taking over the reins at some stage down the track.

Mr Birney's 12 months as leader of the Liberal party from March 2005 to March 2006 was riddled with controversy after a number of gaffes, including saying the Pope was married and taking his girlfriend on a taxpayer-funded trip to Europe.

He quit politics in 2009, but at 47 is regarded as young enough to lead the party. But the problem is finding him a seat.

The seat of Cottesloe could be his avenue back into politics, with Mr Barnett expected to step down at the end of the year which would trigger a byelection.

But Mr Birney could face some stiff opposition. As flagged by WAtoday last week, former Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis is eyeing off the seat but he did himself no favours by putting the boots in the party on the night of the election.

The Liberals are also keen to get highly-regarded former Environment Minister Albert Jacobs, who lost his northern suburbs seat of Burns Beach, back into the fray as quickly as possible and he too could nominate for the seat of Cottesloe.

It's also understood a number of ageing MP's might be encouraged to hang up their boots sooner rather than later, so their could be at least two more byelections before the 2021 election.

While rumours and scuttlebutt will haunt the Liberal party for months to come, Dr Nahan will have the daunting task of leading a party that is barely recognisable from the one that went to the March 11 polls.

And he is already trying to heal the bloodied wounds of the massive defeat by distancing himself from Mr Barnett at every opportunity.

Dr Nahan had another swipe at his former boss on the weekend, claiming he should have bowed out before the election, like NSW premier Mike Baird and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key had recently done.

"Many of us had decided not to blast him out if you wish. We expected him to hand over to someone else - but that didn't happen," Dr Nahan said.

"I indicated to him that he should consider the future. I didn't say he had to go... clearly, through this election Colin was tired."

Mr Barnett's failure to enact the part-privatisation of electricity distributor Western Power was a problem and prompted Dr Nahan to threaten to quit as treasurer.

He said to help ease debt, Western Power should have been put up for sale in 2013 after the Liberals won comfortably, well before last Saturday's election.

"The majority of the team agreed with my view - the premier didn't," Dr Nahan said.

"It turned out to be a catastrophic mistake."

He said Mr Barnett, who finally relented to a part sale announced in last May's budget, was not pushing it publicly, which prompted the resignation threat in July.

"We had just announced the intended sale of Western Power in the May Budget but nothing was happening," Dr Nahan said.

"He wasn't talking to the public. It was clear we had put up a big scary thing (the sale of Western Power) and we were going to run away from it. And I wasn't going to participate in that.

"I told him on one particular day, 'I am extremely frustrated and I am going to make a decision (about resigning) if we don't get on to Western Power.

"He knew what was percolating. The next day he agreed to progress it."

Mr Barnett said it was up to the party room to determine the new leader.

"I will be there, I obviously won't be a candidate and whoever nominates I will cast my vote along with the other members," Mr Barnett told the paper.

He also revealed plans for a significant time away from the party.

"I've been busy looking after the transfer of government... but obviously I'll have a bit of a break," he said.